I have never used a 3D printer and am looking at buying the A1 Combo.
One of the items I would like to print is a thin plate with text approximately 11cm square and about 1mm thick– the plate would be black and the text (font 10 or 8) would be white.
I intend designing my 3D models using Autodesk Fusion 360 (free for personal use version).
Assuming the above software can do this and it can create a file to load into the 3D printer, will the A1 Combo be able to print this?
Yes, it will be able to print this quite easily. Autodesk Fusion is also a pretty good choice for something like this, it’s also pretty simple to learn.
You might want to get the 0.2 nozzle for the detail on the font. Sometimes the 0.4 is a little too big to get fine details.
Thanks for the advice.
If I only want 2 colours and the white printing is on top of the black - do I need the Combo? Can the printing process be halted automatically (or perhaps manually) and the colour changed before continuing?
You can but it would be easier with the AMS Lite in the combo
No, but it is well worth it. And buying it after the fact if you decided later you need it, is considerably more than just getting the combo to begin with.
It is far more expensive to add later afterwards, close to the same cost as the combo itself.
If you think you might want it in the future, it is far cheaper to grab it now.
It does make things far easier, including your use case.
That said, it isn’t required for the specific use case you suggested. Assuming the text is scaled to fit the 11cm size, a 0.2 nozzle isn’t needed, only if you have tiny text.
I would recommend looking at the images denoting quality on the nozzle pages in the store.
I try to post printer profiles (instructions to the printer) for those without an AMS for all models that can be achieved without one. This is not as common as it should be, but, you can achieve it yourself using Bambu Studio. Open any of mine to see how easy it is.
If you are planning to do multiple color prints, it is really in your best interest to get the AMS Lite. The process of manually changing filament midway in a print is not just a convenience factor it is also a quality factor. People don’t like to hear this, but you WILL introduce a visible but small layer shift by manhandling the extruder while the steppers are engaged. This is not unique to Bambu printers, and on the A1 you need to strongly press the filament cutter and press down the extruder gear release lever, in addition to some minor torque from dumping more filament thru manually. The machine cannot re-home before it engages as there is stuff on the plate. The stepper motors are only machines, they can only behave so accurately.
I am a bit curious what you mean by manhandling the extruder? The load/unload process is completely hands off of the print head every time I’ve done it.
But you are right, just the process of pausing the print alone can cause a layer shift. However in this case where the last layer is flat the and next layer is text, it shouldn’t be noticeable.
I assume he meant that if you manually do it, you have to to manually press the filament cutter and extruder release lever which can move things. I do not know if you can use the unload/load commands from the menu while it is paused. If you can, then it should not be an issue.
Yes you can use the load/unload commands from the print screen while paused.
Thanks for all the advice - I have ordered the Combo.